AC Milan said goodbye to Olivier Giroud and Simon Kjaer at the end of last season which is the latest example of leadership leaving the club, and now the search is on for new senators in the dressing room.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, going into the summer Milan fans believed that the squad needed a €50m striker, a new right-back, a defensive midfielder, a centre-back and some other positions too. 50 million striker.
What if the biggest gap in the Milan squad was a leader? A charismatic player, with values more than value, someone who talks to his team-mates, enforces certain rules and says the right things at the right time.
Milan in the past have had several leaders at the same time such as Baresi, Maldini, Tassotti, Costacurta, Gullit and Ancelotti, then Nesta, Seedorf, Gattuso, Ambrosini, Kaladze and others.
Allegri’s Scudetto had Gattuso, Seedorf, Nesta, Van Bommel, Ambrosini, Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Abbiati, Flamini, Bonera, Zambrotta and Pirlo too. The last Scudetto-winning side had Ibrahimovic, Kjaer and Giroud, but was more about collective harmony.
Two of the three are no longer there, the other is a Senior Advisor and so the leadership in Milan has to be completely rebuilt. Looking at the dressing room, there are some certainties.
Mike Maignan is a leader, even if he has a particular character: very focused on his work, charismatic but also edgy, not easy to manage. Fikayo Tomori is vocal, especially on the pitch: he talks a lot, makes himself heard but does not have the authority of the great central defenders of Milan.
Davide Calabria is the captain but is not experiencing the best moment, Alessandro Florenzi is important for creating a calm atmosphere but unfortunately he will be out for a long time, while Christian Pulisic is intelligent and serious but he arrived just a year ago.
And so, the most important man could become Alvaro Morata, who has inhabited the dressing rooms of Spain, Real Madrid, Juve, Atletico, Chelsea and has just won a European Championship as captain. It is no coincidence that already on the first day, after Milan-Torino, he spoke as a leader.
“We need to take a step further mentally. We need to work hard, work, commit more fouls, become a tougher team,” he said. But what about Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, two of the names we haven’t mentioned.
The cooling break hasn’t helped things. Theo and Leao’s reaction is striking because, at 26 and 25, they are at the age and experience with Milan to become the leaders of the group, instead they are at the centre of controversy and have started badly under the new coach.
Looking on the bright side, in a situation like this, there is room for new leaders to assert themselves. Reijnders, Fofana, Abraham, Pulisic: if they have something to say, let them raise their voices.
What do you expect from an American owner whose main reason for acquiring Milan is player trading and ultimately selling the club for gains? What do you expect from a French scout/sporting director who despise Italian talents? There is no tradition, no ambition, and no passion for the club and the country at the very top. What do you expect to happen in the lower ranks? The lack of leadership stems from the top management.
The leadership starts with the club owners, then it trickles down to the management and then down to the coach and then to the players.
Milan has poor leadership from the top down. Too many inexperienced chiefs at Milan. The club needs to first reorganize their management structure.
Bring in an experienced CEO, Sporting Director and GM. Get rid of all past players and ban past players from management and coaching. This has been an epic failure for Milan.
Once we have an experienced CEO, Sporting Director and GM then they can select the right experience coach and the players with the right character to take the team forward.
The GM and Sporting Director will work on the transfers to give the coach the RIGHT QUALITY players to improve the squad to take us to the next level.
Until then Milan will suffer in mediocrity. This current crazy model with Furlani, Zlatan and Moncada is an ABSOLUTE FAILURE. ALL of the them should be removed and replaced by competent experienced professionals.
Banter era 2.0
We lack leadership (throughout our org) — we could’ve signed Hummels on a free.
Pavlovic. He’s young but intimidating.
Let me copy my comment from somewhere in August. More relatable now than ever.
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What I see is that we want to create a team around Leao. Leao as the centre of the project. It’s translated in our playing style as well. To be really too dependent on him. That’s a wrong move I guess. Yes, he’s our highest paid player, our highest valued player. But it’s so clear that he never has this elite mentality.
He’s surely not a type of player who can lead the pack. Nor the one who can immediately raise his level in the time of crisis. We need to start treating him as an ‘extra’. As a support. As a complementer. An icing on the cake. A Ronaldinho in Messi’s Barca (sadly we don’t have our Messi). An unmatched card in the four of a kind.
That way he also can feel less pressure as we all know how he does under pressure.
“That way he also can feel less pressure as we all know how he does under pressure.”
Well said.
Leadership now would have to come from Mike and Alvaro is my best guess. We have no natural leaders.
The moneyball algorithm doesn’t seem to take into account Serie A experience, grinta and leadership. And it seems broken unless Emerson Royal has computer skills and hacked it.
Emerson Royal obviously. The chosen one!
Morata was brought in at the right time to control the dressing room. Winning the Euros was the icing on the cake , cos Leo and Theo have not won any trophy at international level so that alone speaks volumes for Morata. Morata, Bennecer, Mike, Calabria(He has Milan DNA) should control situations. I see them as matured. Theo and Leao should be humble. You guys just won a Seria A title with Milan. Not a treble,none of you even close to a World Best nomination,got dem it. What the hell. They needed to be punched in the face. For their information,Milan once upon a time had Kaka, had Other greats who purely did better than you guys . I expect them to be sold soon. Milan should replace Rafa with Sasuolo’s Lloriente and Theo with Gimenez. Management should stand by the coach .
In fairness, Theo won the UEFA Nations League with France (and was a World Cup runner-up), and he won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, that experience is not translating to hard work and positive attitude, at the moment.
We need to sale Leao when the right amount come. I doubt if he can rise higher than where he is.
He can!Many specialist say he can but just like Ancelotti said he needs to be beaten every day.But you are right,he wont! Just like Dinho he loves to much to play for him,to laugh and smile too much or the desire to win,to be a winner comes most of the time gritting the teeth.